The sins of GOP ‘moderates’
They talk sensibly but enable the extremists
Pundits talk a lot about the awfulness of Donald Trump — and with reason. But can we also consider the awfulness of Sen. John McCain? Awfulness somewhat redeemed by his last-minute vote on health care.
What has been going on in the Senate these past few days is one of the most shameful episodes in that body’s history. Policy that will affect the lives of millions of Americans, that will shape a sixth of the economy, was rushed through a chaotic, cynical process.
And Mr. McCain has been a crucial enabler. Tuesday, he cast the decisive vote allowing this whole travesty to proceed. Then he gave a sanctimonious speech denouncing partisanship and divisiveness, and declared that while he voted to allow debate to begin, he would never vote for the existing Senate bill without major changes. Later that day, he voted for that very bill, even though it hadn’t changed in any significant way.
It got worse. Thursday, Senate leaders threw together a new bill that would totally restructure health care — health care! — over lunch, to be voted on within a few hours.
And three senators, including Mr. McCain, declared in a press conference that they would vote for this “skinny reform” — but only if assured that the House would go into conference rather than simply pass it. That is, they were willing to vote for something they knew was terrible policy, as long as they were assured that it wouldn’t actually become law. The dignity of the Senate, 21st-century style.
Why not just vote no and try to come up with good policy? Because, as they also knew, Republicans don’t have good policies to offer, so a bum’s rush is the only way they could pass anything. And, until the lastminute vote early Friday morning, Mr. McCain, who has demanded a return to “regular order” in the Senate, turned out to be perfectly willing to help the bums get rushed.
When we look at the degeneration of American politics, it’s natural to blame the naked partisans — people like Mitch McConnell, with his principle-free will to power, or Ted Cruz, with his ideological rigidity. And Mr. Trump has, of course, done more to degrade his office than any previous occupant of the White House.
But none of what is happening would be possible without the acquiescence of politicians who pretend to be open-minded, decry partisanship, tut-tut about incivility and act as enablers for the extremists again and again.
I started with Mr. McCain because so many journalists still fall for his pose as an independent-minded maverick, ignoring that he has almost always been a reliable partisan yes-man whenever it matters. Incredibly, some commentators praised his performance earlier this week, focusing on his noblesounding words and ignoring his utterly craven actions.
But he has rivals in the hypocrisy sweepstakes. Consider Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, whose state has benefited enormously from the Affordable Care Act. “I didn’t come here to hurt people,” she recently declared — before voting for a bill that would quadruple the number of uninsured in West Virginia.
Or consider Rob Portman of Ohio, who praises Medicaid and talked big about the defects of Republican health plans, but also voted for that bill. In Ohio the number of uninsured would only triple.
Credit where credit is due: two GOP senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, have stood up against the effort to betray every promise Republicans have made — and Mr. McCain did something right in the end. But every other supposed moderate in the Senate has offered a profile in cowardice.
And let’s be clear: This story didn’t start in the past few weeks, or the past few months. Republicans have been denouncing Obamacare and pledging to repeal and replace it for seven years, only to be caught flatfooted when given the chance to come up with an alternative. Shouldn’t someone in the GOP have asked, “Hey, guys, what is our plan, anyway? If we don’t have one, shouldn’t we consider helping make this law work?” But nobody did.
Whatever happens next, whether health care gets resurrected in this Congress or not, every Senate Republican besides Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski should be deeply ashamed.